Art. XXIII. 1. Discovery of American Cinnabar and Native Lead.
Extract of a letter from Dr. Comstock of Hartford, to the Editor.
Sir,
In answer to your inquiry concerning the discovery of sulphuret of mercury and native lead in this country, I send you the following summary of a letter I received from B. F. Stickney, Esq. Indian agent, dated Fort Wayne, Dec. 1, 1818.
Mr. Stickney states, that the situation of Fort Wayne, and the country surrounding, is a high level, probably about 800 feet above the sea. From this place the water-courses divide and take different directions, on the one hand falling into the Gulf of Mexico, and on the other into the Bay of St. Lawrence. The whole country is of secondary formation, chiefly calcareous and aluminous.
Bitumen and sulphur are every where to be found, and as usual, accompanied by the metals.
In speaking of the cinnabar, his words are, "I have found a black and garnet-coloured sand, in great abundance on the shores of the Lakes Erie and Michigan, this is a sulphuret of mercury, and yields about sixty per cent. It is so easy to be obtained, and in so convenient a form for distillation, that it must become an important article of commerce."
The native lead was found on the Anglaize River, at a considerable distance from the fort.
Of this he says, "metallic lead is so interspersed with galena, as to prove incontestably the existence of native lead."
Respectfully,
Your obedient Servant,